


I Love You Guys

by foureyed_tozier



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe- Canon Divergent, Canon-Compliant, Fluff and Angst, Multi, OT7, Stanverly and Hanzier heavy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 10:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16116623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foureyed_tozier/pseuds/foureyed_tozier
Summary: And that’s why his last words are stolen right from Mike’s vows to Bill, soft and tender and full of emotion.“I love you guys. I love you all so much.”





	I Love You Guys

The memories fade as all memories do- slowly. 

They fade the quickest for Stan. A few days after school starts, he doesn’t quite remember what tormented them through the summer. The colors of august blur together until he can’t quite pick out the details anymore, just the sharp, terrible fear. 

_(You’ll float, too)_

Bill remembers the clearest. Most of the time, he doesn’t- not when he’s thinking about something else- but something as simple as the color yellow or a child’s laugh can send him spiraling into a panic attack, the clear, high, voice of Pennywise echoing through his mind. 

_(I’m hiding in the closet with a piano wire)_

Eddie tries not to forget- he holds onto the memories so tightly it hurts, and when he finally forgets the face of the monster that haunted them he cries, and he calls Richie on the phone, because he needs to know he’s not crazy. 

_(I’ll blow ya for a dime)_

For Mike, the fear fades before the events do, because he’s a factual person, and he knows IT’s dead. He can’t stand the sigh of a red balloon, although he doesn’t quite know why anymore. 

_(C’mere, Mikey)_

It’s hard, without Beverly, and Ben takes it hardest of all. His memories of the summer are drenched with the sickly-sweet beginnings of love, a half-remembered poem, and the feeling of lips against his. 

_(Where ya goin’, tits?)_

Richie laughs it all away, hides the memories behind louder voices and wider smiles, afraid if he stops moving for even a moment, the memories will come rushing past the wall he’s put up in his heart. 

_(Beep-beep, Richie)_

Beverly can barely remember- she gets a flash of hands on her thighs, friends, and her father’s leering face. Her memories are clearest of a boy with wild curls and a taste for cigarettes- his name as Richie, and they talk once a month. Sometimes, he brings in other people- she can never remember their names before hearing their voices. Sometimes, she’ll look at the postcard pinned to her wall, and wonder how the poem had become smeared with blood. 

_(We all float down here, Bevvie)_

Some days, Bill can’t go to school- he stays at home, and Eddie bikes over afterwards, handing the older boy his homework and helping him work through it, knees knocking together and fingers brushing as they trade answers, shy smiles hidden by their downward glances. 

Stan rarely calls Beverly of his own accord, but when he does, it’s always on Saturdays at 5pm. She learns to expect it, even if she’s not quite sure what she’s waiting for until it happens, and they talk while she smokes the last of her pack, staring out the window of her small apartment room. Stan gets lost in the sound of her voice- soft and soothing, never loud or harsh. 

Mike says it first, the words spilling over his lips and into the empty space between them, and Richie accepts it, saying it back with an easy smile and fingers laced together. _”I love you.”_

When Ben gets sad, he sits at his desk and writes poems. His hand moves of it’s own accord, dark ink detailing red hair, green eyes, and the smell of smoke. 

It’s Bill who first realizes, and he hides in his house for three days, ignoring Richie’s please and the stacks of homework left in front of his door; it’s not until Stan knocks at his window that he lets anyone in. Bill holds him and cries; Stan doesn’t ask, because he already knows. 

Richie realizes it next, his emotions going into a spiral. He tells Mike, unable to look the boy in his eyes as he spills his feelings for the other Losers. When Mike responds, it’s with understanding words and a watery smile, and they walk to Bill’s house, hand-in-hand, joining Bill and Stan for their afternoon study session. 

Eddie realizes it one rainy Friday in Bill’s room. The day had been too hard on Bill, and the others had piled into his room. Eddie looks around the assembled- Ben hunched over his newest poem, Mike and Richie on either side of Bill while Stan lies with his head in his lap, and blurts out an admission that they all echo. _”I love you guys.”_

They feel complete once Beverly moves back to Derry, eyes wide and heart on her sleeve. Stan greets her with a kiss on the cheek, his hand still firmly linked with Bill’s, and she cries, embracing all of them in one giant group hug. _”I missed you so much.”_

Stan knows that they will never be understood, and that’s why he marries Beverly on a moonlit night, both of their families present- plus the family they’d chosen for themselves. He knows, and that’s why only he and Beverly are marked as the parents when she gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. 

But he also knows that they need each other, and that’s why he buys them a ranch out in Derry, where they all live and play and grow old. That’s why the kid calls them all “Daddy” or “Papa” or “Mama”- nobody’s left to be an “Uncle”. He knows, and that’s why he smiles up at them from his hospital bed, wiping the tears from Eddie’s eyes. And that’s why his last words are stolen right from Mike’s vows to Bill, soft and tender and full of emotion. 

_“I love you guys. I love you all so much.”_

**Author's Note:**

> hey! I had some writer’s block, and used this to get over it. Enjoy?


End file.
